If you listen to this podcast on a regular basis, you know that many of my topics come from clients – what they are struggling with, the questions they are asking me. Today’s topic is one such example.  Two of the things I hear most frequently relative to networking is:  #1 – I don’t know very many people #2 – I only know people in my job function/industry, and that’s no help to me because I want to pivot As a reminder, here are my definitions: A career pivot is like a pivot in basketball – you keep one foot on the floor when you aren’t dribbling the ball. A career pivot means you are either keeping a foot in your job function or your industry – and pivoting out of the other.  An example of pivoting out of your industry might be changing from a human resources director at a hospital to HR director at an automobile manufacturing plant.  A pivot out of your job function might be moving from IT at a tech company into a sales role at a different tech company.  A career reinvention means you are moving both feet – to a new career function AND a new industry. An example would be changing from a marketing executive at a CPG company to do Foundation work at a university.  So back to “I don’t know anyone” and “I only know people in my job function/industry.” Here are my strategies:  You DO Know People…More Than You ThinkA good way to begin to grasp your true network is to jump on LinkedIn and a) review your existing connections for growth possibilities there, and b) connect with people you haven’t yet connected with. Keep in mind that you don’t have to already know these people – your invitation to connect is you saying that you WANT to get to know them.  To review your existing connections, use the Advanced Search function. Rather than giving the steps here, which will likely change in the not-too-distant future, reach out to me if you don’t know how to use this resource.  One you’ve opened the filters, select “2nd connections” and put in the name of your connection you want to review. This will open up all of this connection’s connections, which you can then mine for possibilities.  I recommend a message something like this: “I see we’re both connected to Jim Smith, one of my former colleagues. Let’s connect!”  This previous method works from who you are already connected with. Let’s say you also want to connect strategically with people who work in a certain company, hold a certain job title, or have worked there or held that title. The Advanced Search function comes into play here, as well.  If you want to find the Director of Operations for ABC Company, used the Advanced Search function with the filters of Current Company and Job Title.  You message for this situation might be: “I see we both used to work at XYZ company – let’s connect!” OR “I am impressed by the level of engagement you have on LI – let’s connect!”  If you are going to use the approach of commenting on some aspect of their profile, you MUST customize this so they know you’ve actually looked at their profile. Nothing as generic as “Great profile – let’s connect!”  Notice that with all of these messages, I am not revealing my true intentions. Any sales person will tell you that someone has to know, like, and trust you to buy from you – and the people you are connecting with don’t know you and therefore can’t like or trust you yet.  Come up with a 3-to-4 step approach with these connections, starting with your invitation to connect. Then perhaps your next communication, which should be once they accept your invitation, is to ask them a soft-pitch questions they are uniquely qualified to answer, such as “I see you’ve worked at ABC for three years now. I have some friends who have worked there and they had a great experience – they particularly commented on the company’s strong executive leadership. What has your experience been?” Now note that this person isn’t likely to say anything negative about their current employer – that would be career suicide. But that’s not